The Search for Shooting Star
by TeamChaosPrez
Summary: "The instant Bill Cipher opened the door, he knew something was wrong." {Might wanna read my one-shots before this. Slow updates.}
1. Chapter 1

_Hey guys! I came up with the idea for this one a while ago. I'm currently on a hiatus (stupid school), so I don't know when chapter two will be up, but it will eventually be up. This contains Mabel/Bill, Wendy/Dipper, and hints of Gideon/Pacifica though it's not an official ship for the story. Oh, and the OC's are the children of the canon characters, and they play a pretty big part, but I like to think they're sort of well-written. I don't own Gravity Falls, the amazing Alex Hirsch does._

The instant Bill Cipher opened the door, he knew something was wrong. How couldn't he? After all, his five-year-old daughter alone came out to meet him. No Mabel or week-old son to be seen.

_Probably just sleeping,_ he thought to himself as he lifted the kindergartner in the air.

"I dressed myself today." Charity Cipher announced, puffing out her chest to show off her yellow princess dress . . . which was on backwards, a mistake her mother would surely have fixed.

"Excellent job, my little Ghost." The demon replied affectionately, trying not to let his worry show. "Where are your mom and William?"

"I haven't seen Mommy all day. William's sleeping." Charity responded, starting to suck on her thumb as her dad set her down.

"When did you wake up?" He glanced worriedly at the clock. Four o'clock in the afternoon.

"Six-one-eight." She replied.

"You were up early today." Bill said, trying to swallow his panic as he speedwalked over to little William's room.

"Yup!" She crowed, grabbing the back of Bill's shirt and walking along behind.

Bill leaned over and lifted his son. Phew. Still breathing. He cradled the newborn in one arm, heading to the kitchen to get some emergency breast milk Mabel always put in the kitchen just in case. She would never allow her baby to drink formula if she could help it.

"Charity, can you get my phone and bring it back? It's in the pocket of my suit jacket." Charity sped off, and as Bill was heating the milk with some of his blue flames she handed him the yellow-cased smart phone. He found the right contact and selected it, holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder.

"Hello?" Greeted the voice of a twelve-year-old girl on the other end.

"Katie? Can I talk to Dipper for a moment?"

"Oh, hey Uncle Bill. Yeah, just a second."

His ear was assaulted by Katie hollering loudly for her stepfather, loud footsteps, and muffled scolding before the man he needed was on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Pine Tree, have you heard from Shooting Star today?"

Dipper had obviously heard the worried tone of Bill's voice. "Her phone tried to call me at about three in the morning, but I figured it was just sleep dialing cause she fell asleep texting Candy last night. Why? Is she okay?"

Now Bill was panicked. Not even his wife's twin brother had heard from her. "I don't know. I came home about twenty minutes ago to find Charity and William alone. Char says she woke up at six eighteen this morning and nobody was home."

Fear was now audible in the younger man's voice. "She would never leave the kids alone. When did you last see her?"

"One-thirty this morning when I left the house to make a deal with Bud Gleeful to help his wife get over her trauma."

Shuffling sounds from the phone. By now Charity was staring at her father with wide eyes, having finally figured out that something was wrong. Even William had stopped sucking on the bottle.

"Call the police. I'm on my way with Stan and Wendy."

* * *

"So let me get this straight. Mrs. Cipher was last seen at one-thirty and most likely disappeared between three and six-eighteen. Her jacket was left behind, but her seashell necklace, wedding ring, and shooting star sweater are missing. Tell me, how old is she?" Blubbs had been replaced, and the new sheriff sat in a large chair. Mabel's chair. Honestly, the young man was grating on Bill's nerves.

"Twenty-five years and three months exactly." Bill replied.

"How old was she when you married?"

"Nineteen years and sixteen days."

"How old are your children?"

"Charity is five years, four months, and seventeen days. William is seven days."

"Sounds to me like she just got tired of her young life being held down and up and left." He pushed his glasses farther up his nose.

"That doesn't sound anything like her!" The four adults of the room bellowed in chorus.

"Mabel is my twin sister, and she's known all her friends here for thirteen years. She adores Bill and the kids and would never do anything drastic without talking to me, Stan, Soos, Candy, Wendy, or Grenda about it first."

"Not to mention the kid's a lousy liar." Added Stan in a gruff voice.

"Mommy loves me!" Charity, sandwiched between her father and uncle, announced defiantly with crossed arms.

The new sheriff seemed surprised he'd been contradicted. He rose and crossed the room, turning at the oak door to say one last thing.  
"Well, you're all free to look for Mrs. Cipher, but I'm not wasting time and money on an estranged runaway adult." And with that he exited the small cabin, slamming the door behind him.

"I can't believe he just . . ." Dipper's voice trailed off when he noticed Bill's stony expression. He stared at the demon worriedly. "Bill...?"

With a scowl, he stood quickly. "Call everyone fortunate enough to call Mabel Pines-Cipher a friend. We will find her if it sends us to our graves."


	2. Chapter 2

_[le gasp] Unexpected update! Yay! I honestly have some of this story figured out but most of the stuff in the middle is not planned. I am a fourteen-year-old girl whose parents decided to give her a laptop, I ain't Alex Hirsch so I don't own Gravity Falls._

"Are you absolutely sure that you can't see her?"

"If she was within range, I would be able to feel her emotions, but she isn't, so I can't."

Charity looked between her daddy and uncle, getting increasingly confused. She didn't know what was going on. She'd had the whole house to herself all day, she got to twirl around feeling pretty until Daddy got home and her baby brother hadn't even cried. Then her dad got home and acted all weird and a weird guy was there saying Mommy didn't love her anymore and now all of Mommy and Daddy's friends were in the house but they were all angry or scared and nobody was paying her any attention. She just wanted her mommy.

"Maybe she just went for a walk." Grenda suggested.

"In the middle of the night? Yeah, right." Pacifica rolled her eyes.

"And she would at least tell somebody so that someone could watch the children." Candy added.

Charity stuck her thumb in her mouth to make herself feel a little more secure and slid off the rocking chair, landing on her feet and walking over to William's room. Maybe someone was back there and would tell her what was going on.

Sure enough, Soos was there, trying to rock William to sleep and facing away from her. Not only was someone back there, but someone that had never ever told her a lie before! She nervously walked up behind Soos and tugged his pant leg.

The large man-child turned around and smiled down at the kindergartner. "Hey there, Hambone the Second." He moved the baby to one arm and lifted Charity with the other, setting her on his shoulder. William looked up at them with his brown eyes and cooed.

"Where's Mommy? And why's everyone acting all weird?" Charity asked, her good eye starting to flash a slight pink rather than the regular electric blue, the milky coloring in her blind eye starting to adjust to more of a gray.

Soos noticed the color change in her eyes, and made sure to speak to the half-demon child extra gently. "Mommy's just... out on an adventure, I guess. Everyone's just worried because she didn't tell anyone she was going on the adventure."

Charity didn't notice the doubt laced in the man-child's voice and just accepted the answer she had been given. "When will she be back?"

"Hopefully soon." Soos took a glance at the digital clock. "Looks like it's getting close to your bedtime, Hambone the Second."

"Aww! But I wanna stay up 'til Mommy gets back!" The girl whined as Soos set William back in his cradle and started walking to Charity's room with the kindergartner still on his shoulder.

"She'd be pretty mad if she knew you were up past your bedtime, right?" Was the man-child's reply as he set Charity on her bed and went to get some pajamas from her dresser.

The five-year-old pouted a moment before just sighing and accepting her dilemma. "Can I at least sleep in my princess dress so I have princess dreams?" She asked, smiling a wide sharp-toothed smile.

Soos smirked a little. "Sure. Wanna hear a story?"

She nodded enthusiastically and pointed to the books that covered an entire wall. "_Beauty and the Beast!_ It's my favorite!" She declared.

He chuckled and grabbed the book. "Sure thing."

* * *

"Honestly, I think the most logical explanation is that she was kidnapped." Pacifica stated, crossing her legs to sit Indian-style. She'd become friends with Mabel after apologizing to her about all the bullying a few years previously.

"No. She's tougher than that." Was Dipper's response.

"We may not want to believe it, but odds are someone took her. Why else would she just leave in the middle of the night?"

The entire room was enveloped into silence.

"Well, who would want her?" Grenda asked after a moment.

"Who _wouldn't_ want her?" Bill replied, scowling.

"You know what I meant."

There was barely even a silence before one name was spoken by everyone in the room in perfect harmony.

"Gideon Gleeful."

_Is it Gideon? Is it not? WE SHALL SEE!_


	3. Chapter 3

_There is a HUGE hint to who the culprit is in this chapter. And yes! An update! REJOICE! And yes, the kidnapper is a canon character, so you won't have to guess from my gigantic pool of OC's that nobody has but me._

A midnight stakeout around the Gleeful home was planned, but as usual, Katherine Corduroy and Mia Chen were not included.

The girls were separated by four years, but they had enough in common and spent enough time together that they were as close as sisters. Both had been born to teenage mothers, their biological fathers absent. Both had been embarking on adventures in the forest surrounding Gravity Falls since they could walk, and both were smart enough to skip the first grade.

And, of course, Mabel was a big staple in both their lives.

So now that Katie was twelve and Mia eight, they had expected to be allowed to participate in the investigations. However, everyone they asked immediately shot them down . . . even Bill, who was the "fun uncle" that gave them permission to do pretty much anything, had responded with a "Definitely not."

"But why?" The girls replied in chorus, shock and annoyance on both their faces.

Bill knew the consequences of telling a child something was 'too dangerous' – he'd had to save Charity from one too many near-death experiences – so he just replied "Because we need you to stay here with Char and William. And just in case Mabel comes back on her own."

Both made a face, but reluctantly agreed and assumed the role of babysitting duo.

At eleven o'clock PM, long after the two Cipher kids had gone to sleep and well past the set sleeping time for Mia and Katie, the girls settled into sleeping bags and the adults set out.

* * *

A sleeping schedule had already been worked out. Dipper and Bill would be taking the last shift, much to the annoyance of both of them – they were both probably willing to stay up all night just for the opportunity to cause Gideon Gleeful hefty amounts of pain.

Stan and Soos sat outside the tent they had set up, taking the first shift from eleven to midnight to watch for the living ventriloquist dummy as the others sat dormant, either ready for action or fast asleep.

Not a single one of them suspected what the girls in the Cipher house were up to.

It was 11:15 PM.

* * *

Mia and Katie stayed in their sleeping bags a while after they heard the door close and the voices of the adults had faded, just to make sure that they wouldn't be stopped.

Then they both sprang into action, scrambling out of the warm cocoons and to their feet in near harmony. Mia sprinted into the kitchen, leaving Katie to rid her backpack of the things she had packed to take up space in search of the one thing she needed for this quest.

"Will we need water?" Mia called back.

"Definitely." _No, no, no, ugh why did I take this out of the house..._ The pile at her side was growing, but she still hadn't seen any sign of it.

"Snacks?"

"Granola bars should be fine." Finally, she'd found what she'd been searching for. A grin spread across her face. "There you are." She whispered, pulling out the old and yellowed book. Its cover was damaged, the once-rich burgundy faded and torn. Some of the pages were ripped or the ink faded by the cruel ticking of the clock. One thing, however, was untouched by the passing of the years.

A golden six-fingered hand marking it _3_.

It was midnight when Mia and Katie snuck out, a certain small child following them unseen.

* * *

Hours passed. Nothing happened, no lights turning on or off, no sound, not even a shadow passing by one of the many windows. The shift of Bill and Dipper was proving to be a boring one, to the point where they sat across from each other playing Go Fish.

"Do you have any threes?"

Bill checked his watch. Half after three. He glanced down at the playing cards he had fanned in front of him, angled so that Dipper wouldn't see them. "Go Fish." He waited for the younger man to get a card from the pile before starting, "Do you have any -"

He was cut off by the sound of the front door opening and the man they were waiting for coming out. Bill and Dipper shared a quick glance before running at Gideon at the same time.

Dipper tackled the young man to the ground as Bill moved a newly materialized knife to his throat. Panic was evident in Gideon's wide blue eyes.

"Where's Mabel?!" Bill demanded, scowling.

"What're ya talkin' about?" The albino responded in a hysterical Southern drawl.

"Mabel! Gideon, what. Have. You. Done. With. My. Wife?!"  
"Ah haven' touched her!"

"Oh really?"

"Really!"

Dipper chose this moment to join into the interrogation, seeing that the demon wasn't going to get anywhere. "Then where were you yesterday night between four and six AM?"

"Sleepin'!"

Bill glared at Gideon for close to a full minute before withdrawing the knife. "Well, you're coming with us until she's safe at home, regardless of whether it was you that took her or not."

He and Dipper wrenched him to his feet and dragged him to the tent.

* * *

The sky was beginning to lighten to a dark gray – rather out of season for mid-September in Oregon – when Mia, Katie, and the still-undetected Charity made their way to Gravity Falls Lake. They had been wandering the forest for quite a while with no success, and the lake would be the last place they checked before giving up and heading home.

It was an indescribable relief when they saw the familiar outline of a certain brunette on the docks, moving towards one of the longer stretches of wood reaching out into the water. It was Mabel. And she looked unharmed.

"Let's go get the grown-ups." Mia whispered, linking arms with her friend to head back.

"I'll stay and make sure she doesn't go anywh-"

Katie was cut off by Charity barreling through their linked arms and sprinting full-speed towards her mother. "Mama!"

"Charity, no!" Katie hissed, grabbing at the five-year-old's arm. It was too late, however. The child was already halfway to the docks before the grabbing motion was even finished.

Charity sprinted up to Mabel and tugged on her sweater sleeve. That sweater was her daddy's favorite. The one with the shooting star. "Mama?"

Mabel looked down at her, a blank expression in her face and a far-off look in her brown eyes, as if she was in a trance. She made no noise, and she barely even seemed to be breathing. This silent Mabel scared Charity, who even at her young age could see that something was off.

"Come on, Mama. We gots to go home. Daddy an' Uncle Dipper an' Grunkle Stan an' Soos an' Aunt Wendy an' everyone else're reeeeeal worried."

No response for several seconds until Mabel tugged her arm free and continued walking.

Charity's little heart pounded and tears pricked at her working eye. She forcefully grabbed her mother's cold and clammy hand, trying to drag the woman to the treeline. Mabel looked back down at her daughter, the far-off look still in her normally warm and happy eyes.

_Like the people Daddy puts to sleep._ She recognized the trance, but she didn't understand what it meant or why her mama wouldn't answer her.

Mabel shook Charity off again. The little girl burst into tears and ran back to Katie and Mia, who hadn't been close enough to see Mabel's face. As they tried to comfort the despairing kindergartener, they just assumed that the detective had been right.

She had abandoned them.

Katie lifted Charity and followed Mia back towards the Mystery Shack, all three of them deciding not to say a word of this to anyone. If Mabel just wanted to leave, they'd let her. Who were they to change someone's mind?

Not one of them noticed her jump into the water.


End file.
